Joint Chiefs chairman won't rule out more U.S. military involvement in Iraq

By Chelsea Carter, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Hamdi Alkhshali, CNN

Updated 2:24 PM ET, Thu July 3, 2014

The ISIS terror threat48 photos

Turkish mourners grieve over a coffin during a funeral ceremony in Gaziantep on Tuesday, July 21, for the victims of a suspected ISIS suicide bomb attack. That bombing killed at least 31 people Monday, July 20, in Suruc, a Turkish town that borders Syria. Turkish authorities have blamed the terror group for the attack.

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Protesters turn out with anti-ISIS banners and flags to show support for victims of the Suruc suicide blast during a demonstration July 20 in Istanbul.

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People in Ashmoun, Egypt, carry the coffin for 1st Lt. Mohammed Ashraf, who was killed when the ISIS militant group attacked Egyptian military checkpoints on Wednesday, July 1. At least 17 soldiers were reportedly killed, and 30 were injured.

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Syrians wait near the Turkish border during clashes between ISIS and Kurdish armed groups in Kobani, Syria, on Thursday, June 25. The photo was taken in Sanliurfa, Turkey. ISIS militants disguised as Kurdish security forces infiltrated Kobani on Thursday and killed "many civilians," said a spokesman for the Kurds in Kobani.

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Residents examine a damaged mosque after an Iraqi Air Force bombing in the ISIS-seized city of Falluja, Iraq, on Sunday, May 31. At least six were killed and nine others wounded during the bombing.

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People search through debris after an explosion at a Shiite mosque in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, May 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to tweets from ISIS supporters, which included a formal statement from ISIS detailing the operation.

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Iraqi soldiers fire their weapons toward ISIS group positions in the Garma district, west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, on Sunday, April 26. Pro-government forces said they had recently made advances on areas held by Islamist jihadists.

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A member of Afghanistan's security forces stands at the site where a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up in front of the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on April 18. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. The explosion killed at least 33 people and injured more than 100 others, a public health spokesman said.

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Iraqi counterterrorism forces patrol in Ramadi on April 18. Iraqi special forces maintained control of the provincial capital after days of intense clashes with ISIS left the city at risk.

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Thousands of Iraqis cross a bridge over the Euphrates River to Baghdad as they flee Ramadi on Friday, April 17.

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Yazidis embrace after being released by ISIS south of Kirkuk, Iraq, on Wednesday, April 8. ISIS released more than 200 Yazidis, a minority group whose members were killed, captured and displaced when the Islamist terror organization overtook their towns in northern Iraq last summer, officials said.

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Kurdish Peshmerga forces help Yazidis as they arrive at a medical center in Altun Kupri, Iraq, on April 8.

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A Yazidi woman mourns for the death of her husband and children by ISIS after being released south of Kirkuk on April 8.

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People in Tikrit inspect what used to be a palace of former President Saddam Hussein on April 3.

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On April 1, Shiite militiamen celebrate the retaking of Tikrit, which had been under ISIS control since June. The push into Tikrit came days after U.S.-led airstrikes targeted ISIS bases around the city.

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Iraqi security forces launch a rocket against ISIS positions in Tikrit on Monday, March 30.

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The parents of 19-year-old Mohammed Musallam react at the family's home in the East Jerusalem Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov on Tuesday, March 10. ISIS released a video purportedly showing a young boy executing Musallam, an Israeli citizen of Palestinian descent who ISIS claimed infiltrated the group in Syria to spy for the Jewish state. Musallam's family told CNN that he had no ties with the Mossad, Israel's spy agency, and had, in fact, been recruited by ISIS.

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Iraqi Shiite fighters cover their ears as a rocket is launched during a clash with ISIS militants in the town of Al-Alam, Iraq, on Monday, March 9.

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Displaced Assyrian women who fled their homes due to ISIS attacks pray at a church on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, March 1. ISIS militants recently abducted at least 220 Assyrians in Syria.

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Safi al-Kasasbeh, right, receives condolences from tribal leaders at his home village near Karak, Jordan, on Wednesday, February 4. Al-Kasasbeh's son, Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh, was burned alive in a video that was recently released by ISIS militants. Jordan is one of a handful of Middle Eastern nations taking part in the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS.

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A Kurdish marksman looks over a destroyed area of Kobani on Friday, January 30, after the city had been liberated from the ISIS militant group. The Syrian city, also known as Ayn al-Arab, had been under assault by ISIS since mid-September.

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Kurdish people celebrate in Suruc, Turkey, near the Turkish-Syrian border, after ISIS militants were expelled from Kobani on Tuesday, January 27.

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Collapsed buildings are seen in Kobani on January 27 after Kurdish forces took control of the town from ISIS.

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Junko Ishido, mother of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, reacts during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, January 23. ISIS would later kill Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.

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ISIS militants are seen through a rifle's scope during clashes with Peshmerga fighters in Mosul, Iraq, on Wednesday, January 21.

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An elderly Yazidi man arrives in Kirkuk after being released by ISIS on Saturday, January 17. The militant group released about 200 Yazidis who were held captive for five months in Iraq. Almost all of the freed prisoners were in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect, Kurdish officials said.

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Smoke billows behind an ISIS sign during an Iraqi military operation to regain control of the town of Sadiyah, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on Tuesday, November 25.

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Fighters from the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish People's Protection Units join forces to fight ISIS in Kobani on Wednesday, November 19.

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A picture taken from Turkey shows smoke rising after ISIS militants fired mortar shells toward an area controlled by Syrian Kurdish fighters near Kobani on Monday, November 3.

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Iraqi special forces search a house in Jurf al-Sakhar, Iraq, on Thursday, October 30, after retaking the area from ISIS.

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ISIS militants stand near the site of an airstrike near the Turkey-Syria border on Thursday, October 23. The United States and several Arab nations have been bombing ISIS targets in Syria to take out the militant group's ability to command, train and resupply its fighters.

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Kurdish fighters walk to positions as they combat ISIS forces in Kobani on Sunday, October 19.

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Heavy smoke rises in Kobani following an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on October 18.

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Cundi Minaz, a female Kurdish fighter, is buried in a cemetery in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc on Tuesday, October 14. Minaz was reportedly killed during clashes with ISIS militants in nearby Kobani.

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Kiymet Ergun, a Syrian Kurd, celebrates in Mursitpinar, Turkey, after an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition in Kobani on Monday, October 13.

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Alleged ISIS militants stand next to an ISIS flag atop a hill in Kobani on Monday, October 6.

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A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier who was wounded in a battle with ISIS is wheeled to the Zakho Emergency Hospital in Duhuk, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 30.

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Syrian Kurds wait near a border crossing in Suruc as they wait to return to their homes in Kobani on Sunday, September 28.

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A elderly man is carried after crossing the Syria-Turkey border near Suruc on Saturday, September 20.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire at ISIS militant positions from their position on the top of Mount Zardak, east of Mosul, Iraq, on Tuesday, September 9.

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Displaced Iraqis receive clothes from a charity at a refugee camp near Feeshkhabour, Iraq, on Tuesday, August 19.

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Aziza Hamid, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, cries for her father while she and some other Yazidi people are flown to safety Monday, August 11, after a dramatic rescue operation at Iraq's Mount Sinjar. A CNN crew was on the flight, which took diapers, milk, water and food to the site where as many as 70,000 people were trapped by ISIS. But only a few of them were able to fly back on the helicopter with the Iraqi Air Force and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

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Thousands of Yazidis are escorted to safety by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and a People's Protection Unit in Mosul on Saturday, August 9.

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Thousands of Yazidi and Christian people flee Mosul on Wednesday, August 6, after the latest wave of ISIS advances.

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A Baiji oil refinery burns after an alleged ISIS attack in northern Selahaddin, Iraq, on Thursday, July 31.

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A Syrian rebel fighter lies on a stretcher at a makeshift hospital in Douma, Syria, on Wednesday, July 9. He was reportedly injured while fighting ISIS militants.

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Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants in Mosul on Tuesday, June 10.

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Story highlights

Dempsey says U.S. role could evolve; Kurdish leader calls for vote on independence

Nuns thought to be under ISIS custody, 3 orphans go missing from church in Iraq

46 Indian nurses "are safe and unharmed," Indian Ministry of External Affairs official says

Truck drivers who went missing in Mosul have been released, Turkish foreign minister says

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, left the door open Thursday to stepped-up U.S. military involvement in Iraq if ISIS militants pose a threat to the United States.

In response to a question about what the U.S. end game is in Iraq, Dempsey began by saying the U.S. military's current role is much different from it was during the Iraq war.

"Assessing and advising and enabling are very different words than attacking, defeating and disrupting," he said during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington. "We may get to that point if our national interests drive us there, if (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) becomes such a threat to the homeland that the President of the United States, with our advice, decides that we have to take direct action. I am just suggesting to you that we are not there yet."

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"We will match the resources we apply with the authorities and responsibilities that go with them based on the mission we undertake, and that is to be determined."

Barzani: It's time for referendum on independence

Masoud Barzani, the President of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, told the regional parliament Thursday that it is time to hold a referendum on the independence of Kurdish areas.

He said Kurds should no longer have to wait on anybody to obtain the right of independence and told the Kurdish parliament to begin taking steps to hold the referendum.

Last week, Barzani announced that disputed areas, including Kirkuk, were henceforth part of the Kurdish autonomous region, after the Iraqi central government failed to hold a long-awaited referendum.

Last month, the Iraqi army withdrew from Kirkuk, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of the city and small villages in the areas as ISIS carried out its lightning offensive.

The move by the Kurds will probably complicate efforts to get Iraqi lawmakers to form a new government representing all three major population groups -- Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

Official: Nuns, orphans missing

Two nuns, who were thought to be under house arrest by ISIS militants, and three orphans have gone missing from an Assyrian Orthodox church in central Mosul, the governor of Nineveh province and witnesses told CNN on Thursday.

Militants believed to be from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria initially barred the nuns from leaving Miskintah Church in the Khazraj neighborhood in early June, Gov. Atheel al-Nujaifi said.

The two nuns manage an orphanage on the church grounds, and both are very well known to Mosul residents, the residents say.

Residents in the neighborhood who were in touch with the nuns told CNN they had not been able to reach them on their cell phones since Tuesday. On Thursday, the residents forced their way into the church and said they could not find the nuns or three orphans.

The two nuns were identified by the governor and the residents as Sister Hannah and Sister Uttor.

Indian nurses being moved

Forty-six Indian nurses being held by ISIS in former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit are being moved north, to the city of Mosul, which is under control of the militant group, Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, said Thursday at a news briefing.

The news about the nurses follows reports that Iraqi security forces have been battling ISIS militants for control of the city, north of Baghdad, raising questions about whether ISIS is losing its grip on the area.

Syed said his understanding is that the nurses have been moved for their own safety.

"All of them are safe and unharmed," he said.

Asked whether the nurses were being held against their will, he said: "In zones of conflict, there's no free will."

Turkish truck drivers released

Thirty-two Turkish truck drivers who went missing in early June in Mosul, when ISIS fighters swept through the city, have been released, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday in a televised news conference carried by Turkish television stations.

"As a result of efforts and daily consultations for the past 23 days, now I am happy to say that our 32 drivers have been received by our consul general, and now our consul general is on the way to Irbil with the drivers," Davutoglu said.

The drivers will then be flown to Ankara, Turkey, he said.

There are still more than 40 staff members of the Turkish Consulate missing in Iraq, Davutoglu said. Efforts continue "nonstop" for their safe return, he said.

Among those missing are special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, who were seized by ISIS militants on June 11.

Baghdad bombings

A double bombing in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of al-Furhat left eight people dead and 17 wounded, police officials said early Thursday.

The blasts late Wednesday night targeted people leaving the al-Mustafa mosque after evening prayers in the neighborhood, which sits just 2 miles from Baghdad International Airport, the officials said.

More than 16 people have been arrested in connection with the attack, officials said.

They did not say whether those arrested were believed to be militants tied to ISIS.

Fighting in Karbala

Dozens were reportedly killed in days of fighting between Iraqi security forces and followers of a prominent Shiite cleric in the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, authorities said Thursday.

The battle began Tuesday when Iraqi troops raided the offices of prominent Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi, sparking a battle with the cleric's followers, they said.

The raid came after the cleric's followers blocked roads in and around shrines in Karbala.

Al-Sarkhi has been a fierce critic of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the United States.

Last week, he blamed some of the bloodshed on the country's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who called for Iraqis to take up arms against ISIS extremists.

Helicopters fired a number of times on the Saif Saad neighborhood, not far from the city's famed holy shrines, on Tuesday night, an employee at a shrine and a resident of Karbala said. The aircraft again hovered over the area Wednesday, as the city was placed on high alert and the streets remained empty of civilians.

Videos posted on YouTube purported to show a firefight between Iraqi forces and the cleric's followers, including one that showed an Iraq Humvee burning as gunfire is heard in the distance.

CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the videos.

Fighting in Diyala, Salaheddin provinces

Iraqi security forces, with the help of volunteer fighters and Sunni tribesmen, were carrying out an offensive Thursday against ISIS fighters north of Baquba in Diyala province, security officials told CNN on Thursday.

The towns of al-Dawaleeb and al-Shohani, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Baghdad, have been cleared of militants, the officials said.

They said a number of ISIS fighters were killed and wounded during the operation, which lasted 7 hours.

The officials say a large number of bombs were planted in both towns by ISIS, and Iraqi forces were working to defuse them.

Meanwhile, state-run Iraqi TV reported that a counterterrorism unit killed 88 extremists and destroyed 12 vehicles in Salaheddin province Thursday. It offered no evidence of the killings, and no further details were provided.